Tracking down the history of 'ghost-town' resorts of Poconos

Tuesday

Dec 27, 2011 at 12:01 AM

As I bicycle around the area, I pass a number of old abandoned small-time resorts. Kamp Karamac is one; others around Cresco are just concrete and metal ruins. Is there a map or reference work that I can obtain in order to locate the names and history of these abandoned sites, including the little mom-and-pop resorts that are no more? When I bike around I see these little ghost-town resorts and it seems the grounds are still haunted from the glory days. Why did these resorts die?

As I bicycle around the area, I pass a number of old abandoned small-time resorts. Kamp Karamac is one; others around Cresco are just concrete and metal ruins. Is there a map or reference work that I can obtain in order to locate the names and history of these abandoned sites, including the little mom-and-pop resorts that are no more? When I bike around I see these little ghost-town resorts and it seems the grounds are still haunted from the glory days. Why did these resorts die?

C.P., Cresco

Although there is not a single map or reference work that lists all abandoned resorts sites in the area, there are a number of books written during the heyday of these now-defunct tourist stops that may help in your research.

Online is the 1915 book "The Bells Ringing the Message of Progress in Monroe, Pa." accessible on Internet Archive's webpage, archive.org/stream/bellsringingmess00hugh#page/32/mode/2up.

Reprints of the book are also available at online retail shops. Another useful source, which is posted on the webpage of Eastern Monroe Public Library's Local History and Genealogy Room at www.monroepl.org/localhist.html, is the 1916 book "Monroe County County's Famous Summer Resorts." Additionally, the library at 1002 N. Ninth St., Stroud Township, has on its shelves more recently published books, which contain information about the bygone resorts, such as "Journey Along the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad: Pictorial history of Pocono Mountain Boarding Homes, Hotels, Inns and Resorts from the Delaware Water Gap to Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania." This 2007 book by Alan Sweeney is also available online and at local retail sites.

Other possible sources are the paperback books of "Images of America" series published by Arcadia Publishing and the book "Better in the Poconos: The Story of Pennsylvania Vacationland," by Lawrence Squeri, all available locally.

Should you know the name of the resort such as Kamp Karamac, a search of the Internet may produce results. For those not familiar with Kamp Karamac or Camp Karamac, the resort was in Warren County, N.J., along the Delaware River, and in its early years catered to young women.

On the Pennsylvania side of the river, there was the Karamac Inn, advertised in The Washington Post in 1907 as being on 200 acres of beautifully shaded water frontage near Delaware Water Gap. The inn has also been referred to as Kamp Karamac.

There are a number of organizations with information about the old resorts and the reason for their demise, but since you live in Cresco, start your search in your home territory. Stop by Barrett Paradise Friendly Library at 6500 Route 191, Cresco. Phone 570-595-7171; visit www.barrettlibrary.org; email info@barrettlibrary.org.

Although closed for the season, Barrett Township Historical Society's Cresco Station Museum, Route 390 and Sand Spring Road, Mountainhome, is a wealth of information on local history. Plan a stop there in the spring. For information, write to Barrett Township Historical Society, P.O. Box 358, Mountainhome, PA 18342; phone 570-595-6157 or email stationmuseum@verizon.net.

For previous questions and answers, see poconorecord.com/consumer. Published questions are limited by space available.